The invention relates to a method for applying sealing profiles to vehicle bodies or the parts thereof, wherein the sealing profile is drawn off from an unwinding unit and rolled, by way of an adhesive-bonding layer arranged on the sealing profile, on the vehicle body or the part of the vehicle body, along an application line provided for application purposes, by means of a pressure-exerting roller of an application head.
DE 101 38 781 A1 discloses a method which is intended for applying a seal to a vehicle door and in which the seal, which is present in the form of a sealing profile on a roll, is drawn off from the roll and rolled on, by way of an adhesive-bonding surface present on the seal, around the vehicle door along an application line provided for application purposes.
The expression “rolled on”, in combination with this prior art and the present invention, is intended to mean that the sealing profile is pressed continuously on a surface of a vehicle body or a part of the vehicle body, for example a vehicle door, following the predetermined installation or application line, for example with the aid of at least one application roller and is applied in this way.
In order to increase the reliability of production in such methods, EP 1 733 839 B1 proposes that the sealing profile produced by continuous extrusion should be checked before being wound up onto a roll which is intended for use in an application apparatus. If the check prior to the sealing profile being wound up detects defective portions, so-called defects, of the sealing profile, these defects are marked and/or the starting and end coordinates thereof are stored. The defects are portions of the sealing profile which are unsuitable for processing, for example portions which have damage or irregularities on the sealing-profile surface. The manufacturer checks the extruded sealing profile by means of a checking unit. A marking unit, for example an ink-jet printer, arranged downstream of the checking unit identifies the defects by way of markings at the start and end of the defect. A further option is that of applying an interrupted or uninterrupted marking along the defect.
In the case of the known method, relatively long defects are separated out even before the sealing profile is wound up onto the roll. Profile ends produced as a result are joined to one another again, preferably adhesively bonded. Shorter defects are severed in the application apparatus, with reference to the marking(s) generated before the sealing profile is wound up onto the roll and/or with reference to the starting and end coordinates of the defect(s) stored in the application apparatus, i.e. by the user and are separated out in the form of waste.
A significant disadvantage of the known method is that it is necessary to coordinate the marking of the defects provided by the manufacturer and/or the data handling by way of which the starting and end coordinates are stored on the user's application apparatus, which is remote from the manufacturer of the sealing profile. To this extent, there is a need for close coordination between the manufacturer of the sealing profile wound up on rolls and the manufacturer and user of the application apparatus, so that the user can reliably sever defective portions with reference to the markings generated by the manufacturer and/or with reference to stored starting and end coordinates.